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(A little bit late for) World Mental Health Day

I saw some great and helpful posts about world Mental Health Day back on the 10th October. I wanted to record for myself the things which I am finding helpful and not helpful for mental well-being as we pass 7 months of COVID restrictions, and with no sign of a letting up for the foreseeable. These things, I think, are true for me under normal circumstances but the pandemic has created a hot-house environment of issues and challenges which have heightened the need to be aware of these things.

We have been very fortunate. The three of us have rattled along well, enjoying time together; watching some culture on the internet and TV. Distance from wider family has been a burden, but thanks to technology we have been able to regularly video chat.

Since lockdown began in its most restricted form in the middle of March we have tried to exercise every day. This is easier for me, based from home. I think I have only missed about 12 days of running (and on some of those days we deliberately did not run so we could go for a longer walk). I have missed parkrun - not just the running but the camaraderie (and the regularly updated statistics and progress against challenges) - more than I thought, even if Saturday is usually the one day we wouldn't need an alarm.

Productive and meaningful work helps - what it must be like for some of those we are not so blessed, I can hardly imagine - even if there are days when there is too much, and others where it has been so complicated my head has hurt (learning how to edit video from multiple camera and audio sources!). Having the feedback from the Church family, and wider community, in response to our efforts to stream services and prayer times has been a real encouragement. The flip side of this is that it has taken a lot longer than I had imagined to want to use my cameras for my personal creative outlets. My birthday present was photography based, and has given me a very satisfyingly different way to work. Slowing down in creativity has been restorative in that sense. (If you've noticed one or two of my recent images on Instagram, you'll understand what I mean).

The learning of new skills has also reduced my energy levels in terms of reading. I finished some good books that had been on the half-read pile for too long, and have taken a new book quite slowly. I have, however, been uplifted by being able to browse my art books - finding those images which are, in some way, profound and then trying to work out why.

We made a concerted effort to increase our healthy eating with fresh produce, thanks to M and S food hall in walking distance and an excellent farm shop which delivered even when we couldn't get a supermarket delivery for love nor money (not playing the key worker card for either of us), and so trying to increase the recipe repertoire has been good for me at least. I'm so glad I made the effort to make my own sourdough this time last year, as baking my own bread a couple of times a week has been very good, even if supplies of large quantity flour bags was touch and go at times.

The big negative for us has been the curtailing of travel. Plans for travelling to the Silk Road and also our summer break along the Wild Atlantic Way in Ireland in the camper both had to be postponed for next year. Normally I find the planning therapeutic over the winter months; writing up a journal of destinations and places to see or photograph along with all we would need to know so we don't need to worry about wifi too much, especially when abroad. But at the moment, that is one life-giver which doesn't seem to be working for me.

I do find that being able to visit a gallery, go to an exhibition or a concert, or enjoy a sneaky meal out really restorative. Most of those things have been off limits since March. A lot of venues put some of their past performances up on YouTube which allowed us to catch up on some really good plays, but we would often go up to London for places like the Tate or Royal Academy and although London is open, the whole journey up seems a bit too much to take on at present. Being aware of this means I know I need to focus attention on to other things to make up for the gap.

 

When strange seems every day

I livestreamed our Morning Worship again this morning. Even though I have been fortunate to have colleagues who have shared the main part of editing and uploading, and also have those who are willing to contribute, this strange world of virtual church now seems normal. I have lost count of how many services I have done like this.

My habit previously was to be up at Church around an hour before the service; with setting up, getting ready and chatting to folks on the way in there was sixty minutes worth of activity. From time to time there would be some catastrophic technical hitch and there would be a bit of a panic, but the service would go ahead without a laptop or PA system or whatever had packed up that day.

Now I find myself getting ready well over an hour before the service (whilst conveniently remaining at home) only to find that bit only takes a few minutes. This then leaves for a long period of waiting before being able to start streaming and (deep sigh of relief) see that it is working. We have had glitches with YouTube - but there is no way to communicate out that there is a problem. This time now actually feels quite "stage-frighty".

I do love that we can interact; greeting each other as we log in, or chip in during the prayers. This feels really healthy and what Church ought to be like.

They say that you can discern an organisations values by seeing what is actually values (as opposed, for example, to reading the waffle on a web-site) and so I am really proud of our Church Family here for whom togetherness has proved to be really important and simplicity is a good thing if it allows for that togetherness.

But this process of streaming Sunday and Wednesday mornings will continue as the new normal - the complexities of returning to using our Church building currently outweigh the seeming benefits and there seems minimal desire to do so at present.

Lockdown and the new normal

It take some effort to quite remember what day it is and how many weeks we are in to lockdown, even as it begins to ease.

We have run every day (except one) and so I do know that this morning's non-parkrun was #9 (edit - I now realise it was #11! Totally lost track of the weeks). That has been a real blessing - to be able to get out every day and feel something at least has been achieved. It took some time for my stretching routine to catch up with the increased demand, but all good now.

I have slowed in my rate of reading books - I finished the ones which had been hanging around half-read for a while, but am keeping going. We also set out to enjoy some of the theatre being shown on YouTube, and have really valued that (especially being able to spread a Shakespeare over a couple of evenings and enjoy a longer interval if needed).

I intended to invest time in working on my photography. The demand for videos has meant my cameras have been very busy, but my time to do my own thing has been minimal. It felt like I almost broke my brain at one stage learning to edit video on the hoof and cope with the demand for uploads, and so I am not sure I have the capacity to do the same in learning how to use music creation software such as Ableton Live - as much as I'd like to.

Had times been how we expected a couple of months ago, I would by now be on my second week of three month Extended Ministerial Development Leave but there's not much point being away if you can't be away. Plans on hold and my trip to the Silk Road postponed for now. Likewise, the campervan trip to Ireland has been put back to 2021 as we don't know if and when campsites will be reopening.

There has been real encouragement in seeing the resilience in the Church Family and in the continued commitment within the town to support those in need through Foodbank. I was really touched to receive recognition from the Town Council, although the other recipients seem far more worthy!

I realised early on that in some of the on-line services and prayer times we led I would say something about really looking forward to being back in our Church building (a familiar location) alongside the Church family (a familiar group of people) worshipping together as we are accustomed, but that isn't going to happen for a long time, I fear. I read recently about how crisis accelerates change, and so this has to be the opportunity to make something new. We miss the intimacy of being together, but we also value the porous boundaries on-line Church life has brought about. This also brings about a host of challenges - for example, how to grow disciples in an on-line environment? There are quite a few things that need to be thought about quite carefully. Even if some of us are allowed back into the building, how do we take everyone (even those who need to continue to be careful about the virus) with us? How can we do this with limited resources for expenditure on equipment for live-streaming, and the limited technical resources of skills to film, edit, publish and so forth?

I am aware of how well (comparatively) Schools have coped with the rapidly developing scene. This has been aided significantly by a strong sense of the values and this has allowed quick decision making. I am not sure we are quite so sharp on these. There's still much to do, and I am aware that the 5" pile of paperwork that seemed to be incredibly urgent up until the middle of March has been untouched since. There is a sense of relief in that, but also an awareness that priorities might move on from simply keeping going.

We are safe and well, so there is much to be thankful!

The past is a foreign country...

...they do things differently there. So begins the novel The Go-Between.

These strange lockdown days bring a mix of longing for a return to the safety of what we knew as normal, mingled with a courageous dose of recognition that this is the once in a lifetime opportunity to make a place where the past will seem to have been done differently.

I was struck by a tweet by the economist and writer Jason Hickel

This is remarkable: 170 Dutch academics put together a 5-point manifesto for economic change after the C19 crisis, building on #degrowth principles. It has gone viral in Dutch media. In this thread I'll summarize the points in English. https://t.co/jjiJ2nVRW5

— Jason Hickel (@jasonhickel) April 17, 2020

and his translation of a manifesto for economic change from Dutch academics. Two screenshots of the main substance of his tweet.

Heady stuff.

Rowan Williams was interviewed on BBC Newsnight at the end of last month and raises similar questions, but from a different perspective

The welfare of the people we most care about is bound up with the welfare of those that they're close to.

Suddenly this pandemic has reminded us of our being part of a social network - those we share life with in isolation, those with whom we cross paths in the supermarket (even at a social distance), those who are working to support or care for us or our loved ones should matters take a turn for the worse. This is a timely undoing of the trajectory away from a sense of community and society which seeks the good of more than just me (and those like me).

The vested interests are powerful and, as we see with the problems of introducing obvious new technologies such as electric cars, will likely invest as readily in maintaining their position in the status quo as in finding some new way of working to allow the Dutch academics' vision to come into being.

As Bruce Cockburn once sang

Callous men in business costume speak computerese
Play pinball with the Third World trying to keep it on its knees
Their single crop starvation plans put sugar in your tea
And the local Third World's kept on reservations you don't see
"It'll all go back to normal if we put our nation first"
But the trouble with normal is it always gets worse
The trouble with normal is it always gets worse

 

Living (in) history

People have joked about not knowing what day it is, as one lockdown day merges pretty much into every other. The pattern of Church life, at least in terms of Holy Week and Easter, has meant this has not been much of a problem. However, looking back over the last few weeks they have blurred into one. Previously unthinkable 'social distancing' is now the norm for outdoor interactions. The pile of papers on my study floor which, up until a matter of a weeks ago, were all either urgent or overdue, have remained untouched and may well hit the recycling bin before any great purpose comes of them.

I needed to make a note in my journal this morning of a bit of a timeline for me of these last week. We are living in a history that will be long remembered but the details of which seem soon forgotten as their enormity is normalised into routine.

We met in Church together on Sunday 15th March for All Age Worship and then later for an evening Holy Communion. By the 17th we had been told to avoid gatherings, and so on the 18th I did Morning Prayer from the side chapel over Facebook. and then on the following Sunday, 22nd March, I did a short "solo" service in the morning from St Chad's. That day had been nominated as a National Day of Prayer, in response to which Faith and I did a live time of prayer on Facebook, lighting a candle as a sign of hope.

We were then given guidance to effectively close the Church buildings for public worship and private prayer. Faith and I led Morning Prayer on the 25th from home over Facebook and Trev had uploaded videos to create a Sunday morning service via YouTube for Sunday 29th March. Faith and I led a Facebook live Morning Prayer on the 1st April.

On the 4th it would have been our monthly Prayer Breakfast, so we hosted that using Facebook live and Zoom simultaneously.

I had been working on a series of YouTube videos for Palm Sunday (5th), Maundy Thursday (9th), Good Friday (10th) and Easter Sunday (12th) with a Monring Prayer on the Wednesday 8th on Facebook.

It has been a slightly hairy learning curve, especially on Facebook where it is live, so there is no re-take or edit possible. The Sunday morning from Church taught me that using the forward facing camera reverses the image and also Facebook seems to prefer portrait for video (who makes videos in portrait!!??!!) so it is far too easy to end up with a back to front and rotated by 90 degrees video.

The YouTube videos are less interactive, but there is time to shoot a retake and the software allows editing to get a better image and scene. I have developed my set up quite rapidly on this, noting that capturing consistent audio is tricky - I found another microphone in a cupboard, so I will give that a test. I think I have found a workable pattern of settings for my cameras and a workflow for getting the videos done and uploaded.

The final technical thing which still needs work is lighting. Doing these recordings in the house or garden gives very limited options of space and available light indoors is not enough usually for decent video. Thankfully, we have a good LED light which helps.

Content is still something that needs careful thought. Am I trying to recreate a service in Church, or offer something different? For example, on Easter Sunday I relied on being able to use video conferencing to record conversations with the rest of the team rather than have a traditional sermon slot. I think this worked well. It was good to have other voices and faces on screen too.

I am hoping to take some downtime after Easter to catch up and think about what might be a sustainable model of doing this for the next few months until lockdown is relaxed in some way.

"I want to be alone..."

Is usually said as an impression of Greta Garbo. She claimed never to have said those actual words, instead she said that she wanted to be let alone. However, YouTube seems to show differently.

The next book from the pile is Sarah Bakewell's 'How to live : A life of Montaigne in one questions and twenty attempts at an answer'.

This had been bought for me as we had been to Montaigne's chateau in the Dordogne some years ago. Montaigne was a 16th Century French Magistrate working in Bordeaux and also running his family estate 35 miles inland. However, in his late 30s and with the anticipated arrival of his first child he resigned his public office and withdrew to his estate in order to retire.

His chateau afforded him the space and income to allow his to withdraw like this, and he modified one of the towers in the corner of the chateau courtyard to allow him to be alone - even from his family. In order to maintain a sense of balance, he did the same with the other tower as space for his wife.

The suggestion is that he made this decision with the romantic notion that once withdrawn he would be able to rest and live a serene life, but he soon discovered 'the existential crisis Seneca had warned of', namely feelings of 'dissatisfaction, self-loathing, fear, indecisiveness, lethargy and melancholy', amongst others (p30).

His chateau, at least when we visited in the summer of 2017, was a rural idyll - perfectly set in the warm climate of the French countryside, surrounded by vineyards and woodland. It seems incredible to think that someone could live here and not be totally peaceful and in harmony with self and creation.

Sadly, for most of us our human nature seems to work like it had for Montaigne, and now we find ourselves in an enforced isolation without the opportunity or resources, maybe, to have such a pleasant location in which to be alone, we have to find our purpose in a different direction.

Bakewell writes that Montaigne found the answer by reading his favourite classical writers.

'Plutarch's advice was the same as Seneca's: focus on what is present in front of you, and pay full attention to it' (p32).

This started the process that led to Montaigne writing his famous Essays. These were not philosophical treatises or even intellectual exercises, but the record of Montaigne's feelings about issues from the fear of death to the act of posting a letter. It is not clear whether Montaigne wrote in order to publish his thoughts, or whether he was writing for himself, family and friends.

His rooms in his tower are quite remarkable as he had clearly intended to make the space as conducive to thinking as possible.

The view of the chateau from a window in the tower (the chateau was rebuilt after a fire in the 19th Century)

A view towards the other tower.

The famous roof beams showing some of the classic texts Montaigne had painted on them so he could read them as he walked around the room.

So Montaigne's initial intention was to retreat into (an albeit relatively luxurious and splendid) self-isolation, but this turned into a realisation that life with ease but without purpose can lead to listless dissatisfaction. He was fortunate to be able to find his purpose whilst supported by his own means - he did not need to create his writings in order to have them published to make money.

In Genesis, the theological reflection of the Creation story, we are told that God instructed Adam

‘Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves upon the earth.’ (Genesis 1:28)

even before the realisation of the need for a companion (relationship)

‘It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper as his partner.’ (Genesis 2:18)

I think these two accounts are intended to be parallel tellings, so I won't claim one has priority over the other. The point, I think, is that purpose (in fruitful labour) and companionship (in committed relationships) are significant for human beings - which is obvious because we are made in the image of a creative and relational God.

The need for people to seek out being alone and without the pressures of work is not, I would suggest, a contradiction of the above, rather it is because we have made a mis-shape out of work. For many it is no longer a blessing in itself (we think of the wage packet, or the sense of self-importance as we tell people what we are - or if that doesn't sound significant enough - what we do). There was also immense wisdom in the call to honour the Sabbath, and here I am only thinking about a proper day of resting and refocussing on being a 'human being' rather than an 'inhuman doing'. This is not the same as going back to the days of Sundays with shops closed and rubbish on the telly, rather the active making of space within our diaries and within ourselves.

So how are you going to be today? What are you going to bless by tending, nurturing or creating? And who are you going to be yourself with?

St Chad - is this where it needs to start?

Our Church building was consecrated on the 2nd March 1964 - St Chad's day. Hence we call our Church Family St Chad's too. Chad is buried at Lichfield Cathedral and on the floor there are four large images from his life. We have a copy of one of them in our main entrance hall at the back.

We don't know much about Chad's early life - and we only really have the one source for the rest, so it is a bit sketchy. However, the 7th Century was not a stable period in British history; these were the Dark Ages, after all.

The key elements for us are that Chad spent time travelling and learning about his faith. We know he went to Ireland at some stage and his elder brother, Cedd, held a key role in the Church in Britain. This suggests that Cedd and Chad may well have come from a quite important family.

Caelin, another brother of Cedd and Chad, persuaded a local king to build a monastery near Pickering in Yorkshire and this became a base for Cedd and Chad. Cedd eventually died of the plague at the monastery in Lastingham and we know that Chad succeeded him in becoming the Abbott. The Venerable Bede's account of this period stresses Chad's commitment to prayer and study.

We know that during the time of the Synod of Whitby in 663/664 many Church leaders died because of an outbreak of plague. Wilfrid was chosen to be the new Bishop of York but needed to find three other Bishops still alive in order to be properly consecrated. He decided to head off for northern France, was successfully consecrated but stayed on there. Because of this delay, King Oswiu invited Chad to become Bishop of the Northumbrians. Chad, like Wilfrid, faced the problem of how to be consecrated. It seems that by then there was only one Bishop in the whole of Britain, so Chad went to find him in Wessex.

Chad was consecrated by Wini and started his ministry. Wilfrid returned to Britain some time later ,and then in 669 the Pope sent Theodore of Tarsus to take over as Archbishop of Canterbury with the main task of regularising the Church following the various deaths and consecrations. Theodore asked Chad to step down and allow Wilfrid to take the role he had been invited to back during the Synod. Theodore was struck by how humbly Chad behaved in making way for Wilfrid. He therefore formalised Chad's consecration as Bishop and allowed him to return to his previous role of Abbott at Lastingham.

Later that year, King Wulfhere of Mercia requested a Bishop for his peoples. Theodore remembered the humble Chad and sent him from Yorkshire to Mercia. Chad was used to walking everywhere, hence the bare feet in the picture and this is Theodore sending Chad to Mercia and insisting he went be horse and not on foot as was his custom (there is a story of Theodore actually having to manhandle Chad into the saddle).

So what can we learn from this, especially as we think about our vision and purpose here in Patchway? I hesitate to suggest there may be links with Chad's living at a time of political turmoil and outbreaks of the plague and where we find ourselves today!

Prayer and study (and worship, of course) are the key parts of the monastic life and sustain a community at work. This is far more than simply coming to Church on a Sunday - or even just being the Church on a Sunday. There is a commitment to the hard work of prayer and the labour of study which we seem to lose sight of very quickly. 

I find the humility of Chad in this account very moving. It represents, I think, a wider question of character.

Chad was willing to be sent in response to the clear need. Being sent out is not the same as being thrown out, or being sent away. It means that there was a clear purpose and direction. I often smile at the representation of Theodore (on the right) in this image as he looks a trifle sullen. But note that his right hand is being raised in the traditional sign of blessing - Chad is being blessed to go. The flip-side of that is surely that Chad wouldn't have found a blessing by staying where he was.

We have much we can learn from this as we follow Jesus, but remember Chad.

Some recent articles on New Housing

There seems to have been a flurry in the last week or so of articles about New Housing.

The good news! There is an increase in the number of houses being built to meet the huge demand, but concerns continue to be expressed about where the housing is being located. Flood plains might make for cheap land to build on, but do they provide the sort of housing experiences that people expect for their homes? There is also the issue of how we place large developments in the context of the current transport infrastructure so that this does not mean simply more roads.

I've a soft spot for places like the Barbican and the work of le Corbusier (if you can have a soft spot for Brutalism), and so an interesting film clip with a recognition of some of the aspiration for better homes behind much of the 60s concrete buildings which are looked down on in many quarters. 

Well-being and working at peak performance

A fascinating short interview from the BBC Business section with António Horta-Osorio, the CEO of the Lloyds Banking Group about mental well-being https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/business-51181861/mental-health-combine-peak-performance-with-moments-of-rest

This chimed with some great insight shared by CPAS on leadership issues in general but the areas around dealing with stress were very good indeed. Going back to my Engineering days, the human being under stress actually seems to act in a way parallel with a spring. Hooke's Law describes the relationship be relationship between stress and strain in an elastic body, such as a spring. As strain increases and decreases, so does the extent of deformation (stretching or bending, for example). This relationship is linear (stretching and returning to the original shape) until the yield point is reached, after which the deformation becomes permanent (the metal beam is now bent, or the spring snaps).

From https://www.toppr.com/guides/physics/mechanical-properties-of-solids/hookes-law-and-stress-strain-curve/

This page also gives some more information about the mechanics of this, if you are interested.

So too with the human being. A footballer might play in front of a hostile crowd with enormous stakes up for grabs, but that stress is then given time to work out of their system (relaxation is part of the cycle between matches) but for many, Mr Horta-Osorio for example, the stakes remain too high for too long and something has to give in order to prevent permanent damage.

I admire his courage for speaking out in a world in which somehow it is seen as a sign of strength to be able to cope with constant pressure.

Dare I write about Brexit?

I have been working on my thoughts over the current situation. Nobody I know has told me they are happy with where we are today; some because they want us to turn back, others because we haven't gone far enough. A lovely man in Church last week was in tears about this. We have been failed in numerous ways by a variety of our leaders. I welcome the call for a compromise, but I am struggling to see how such a compromise can be reached in the current climate.

The issue is almost terminally divisive, and was allowed to proceed in that way because of complacent leadership by those who framed a referendum in such simplistic and lazy terms, and by allowing the campaign to have been stoked so emotively by many - I want to say on both sides, but it would seem that the dishonest slogans on the sides of a red bus and illegal campaign funding were predominantly on the leave side. The remain side lacked leadership too. As a result nobody described a clear and honest vision of what leaving or remaining would look like. A recent tweet by John Simpson, the political journalist...

I’ve been going through my notebooks for the referendum campaign, looking for any warnings that we might just crash out of the EU with no deal of any kind. Haven’t found a single hint of it. Just lots & lots of assurances that it would be dead easy to negotiate our departure.

— John Simpson (@JohnSimpsonNews) March 13, 2019

...and so we are caught in limbo by warring sides, and one significant option - as demonstrated by the current petition and last week's march - is being intentionally kept off the table. In those circumstances compromise can only mean one side relenting and I don't see that happening.

Compromise should have really been the first action by the then newly promoted Theresa May back on the 13th July 2016. That may not have been popular, but that is the sort of action that a leader should have taken.

I will continue to pray for our leaders in all the major parties, and on both sides of the issue in question. I will pray for the wisdom and humility that true leadership demands.

As Theresa May's premiership draws to a close, the possible successors will be considering whether to make their moves. The names presented thus far all seem (to my mind at least) to be tainted by their involvement in the poor leadership that has got us to this point. May they consider very carefully for whose benefit they want high office.